Black (and Pink) and Blue
by Einna Fletcher
Summary: It's senior year, three years since Sasuke left all of them without so much as a goodbye. Sakura has moved on, and everything's changed. She's a new person. Until she finds out that Sasuke's coming back...And Sakura decides she won't be forgiving him anytime soon. AU
1. News

"Sakura! Where ya goin'?"

"Oh, hi, Naruto." The pink-haired girl turned around. "What's up? I was just going home."

"You want to go out for some ramen?"

Sakura smiled sadly. "Sorry, Naruto. Maybe some other time." She turned around and started walking.

Naruto sighed. It had already been two months, but Sakura still wasn't her normal self.

He wondered if she'd ever be her normal self again.

Sakura walked home slowly. She hadn't had much energy for anything these days. She'd been so angry, at first, but all of that had drained out of her. She still hoped, somehow, that he'd come back. Everything reminded her of him; the empty seat in homeroom, the police station, and especially the Uchiha Memorial on the razed, empty ground on the outskirts of the city.

She'd heard what he had said, when she tried to persuade him not to go at that bus stop. She'd seen the look in his eyes; he'd wiped all emotion from them, and that was what had affected her the most.

Sasuke was gone, and he wasn't coming back. And she would have to move on, whether she wanted to or not.

* * *

_***Three years later***_

* * *

"Hey! Forehead! Hold up a second."

Sakura had been about to get up, holding her glass. "What? I'm going to go get a refill. You want something?"

Ino looked pointedly at Naruto."Are you gonna tell her?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Tell me what?"

"I—Uh, yeah. I was going to."

"What's going on?" Sakura asked sharply.

"Shikamaru heard about it first," Naruto said, sounding hesitant (for the first time in his life).

Sakura's stare turned to Shikamaru, who had been lying on his back but had now propped himself up on his elbows. "Naruto should tell you."

"I—" Naruto said.

"Oh for God's sake, Naruto, just _tell_ her." Ino said angrily.

"What the hell is going on?" Sakura asked, irritated.

"Sasuke. It's—He's coming back."

Sakura's glass dropped and shattered on the ground. "I—What? Sas—What are you talking about?"

"He's coming back for senior year. Left the police academy."

Sakura was speechless. For a few moments she couldn't get anything out of her mouth. Then,

"And when were you planning on telling me?" She asked very carefully, trying to conceal all emotion.

"I only heard about it earlier this afternoon," Ino said. She was looking at Sakura worriedly. "Shikamaru told me."

"I found out yesterday." Shikamaru said, laziness gone from his voice. "I told Naruto. Nobody else knows."

"Oh." Was all Sakura could manage. Sasuke, coming back? It was too strange for her to even wrap her head around.

"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm great!" She smiled. "Sasuke's coming back, huh? Well that's just great for him." She said bitterly.

"Well I can't wait to see him again." Naruto said with a tentative grin.

_You can't wait to see your 'best friend' who left without so much as a goodbye and never bothered to talk to you once for three years? _Sakura knew that Sasuke might have had his reasons for leaving, but she wouldn't be forgiving him for anything.

"When is he coming back? School's already started." Sakura asked.

"Tomorrow or the next day." Shikamaru said.

"Jeez." Ino said under her breath.

"I'm going to go home. I'm kind of tired." Sakura said suddenly.

"You want me to come with?" Ino asked, fixing her intense blue-eyed gaze on Sakura and asking silently, a_re you going to be okay?_

"No, it's fine. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Aw, okay, Sakura." Naruto pouted.

_Tomorrow? _Less than twenty-four hours until she saw Sasuke Uchiha again.

* * *

Sakura woke up determined to look her best. That insecure girl from the bus stop was gone. She had changed while Sasuke was gone, and he would find that out.

She left her hair wavy and loose and pulled on a pair of skinny jeans, a blue-green sweater and strappy sandals. She concentrated her makeup around her eyes but added some lip gloss. She needed to look confident.

And a confident Sakura Haruno was not to be messed with.

She climbed the steps up to school slowly, and Kiba caught up to her as she was reaching the doors.

"Hey, Sak," he said. "You hear about Sasuke?"

"Yeah. Is he here?"

"Yeah, I think so. Shino told me he saw him."

"Oh. Okay, well, I have to go get my books. I'll see you later, Kiba."

"See ya. Don't tear Sasuke's face off, 'kay? Even if he deserves it."

Sakura rolled her eyes.

When she got to her locker, she saw a flash of blond hair and an orange shirt and somehow knew. She was going to walk right by them. She wouldn't look at him.

"Hey, Sakura! Wait up!"

She cursed Naruto's ridiculously loud voice. If only she could pretend she didn't hear him. She closed her eyes for a moment and then paused before approaching him.

"Hey Naruto—" She stopped when she saw him, just behind Naruto.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, to say the years had been kind to Sasuke was an understatement. A very, very, large understatement. He had the same thick, spiky-ish black hair and those intense dark eyes that made you want to stare and look away at the same time. But now he was tall and muscular in a way that made her positive he had a killer body under his white button-down. A prime example of how the outside of a person in no way reflected the inside.

"Look who it is!" Naruto said, wearing that same hesitant grin as the previous evening.

"Sakura." Sasuke said.

Yeah, puberty had apparently decided to hold nothing back when it hit Sasuke. His voice was low and smoky and…she cursed teenage hormones yet again because it turned her on. _You're an idiot, Sakura. You're a stupid, shallow teenage girl. This is the guy that broke your heart and didn't even care. This is the guy who left you and all his friends without a second glance. _

"Sasuke." She said.

Neither of them said anything but the tension between them could've been cut with a knife.

Her eyes were narrowed, and Naruto was clearly getting uncomfortable. "So, uh…Maybe we should postpone this reunion, or we're gonna be late for class."

"Right." Sakura said. She spun on her heel and started walking fast in the opposite direction. She could feel Sasuke's gaze on her back.

She got into her first period Calculus class, where she found out that Sasuke was apparently the talk of the school.

"Did you _see_ him?" Ami Watanabe was saying dramatically. "He's turned into a Greek _god_. And I thought he was cute in middle school."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she sat down in her normal seat next to Hinata Hyuuga.

"D-did you see him?" Hinata asked Sakura tentatively.

"Who? Sasuke?"

"Yeah."

Sakura nodded. "Said hi."

"Naruto was really happy about him being back. But I-I wondered if you were okay."

"I'm fine. But thanks, Hinata." Sakura waved a hand dismissively. "He left three years ago. Everything's changed since then."

Hinata nodded. "You're right."

Thank God, Sakura thought when she learned that Sasuke wasn't in any of her classes. Even with that reassurance, it was still hard to focus on what her teachers were saying when Sasuke's name was all anyone was talking about, all day.

After school, Sakura changed into her practice outfit and met Ino to head up to the field for cheerleading practice. She needed a heart to heart with her best friend, who was probably the only person who might be able to help. Or at least badmouth Sasuke a bit to make Sakura feel better. Because that's what friends were for, weren't they?

* * *

But Ino wasn't alone; Kiba and Choji were waiting with her to go to football practice. Ino gave Sakura an apologetic glance. Sakura shook her head.

"Honestly, stop worrying about me." She muttered to Ino. "I'm not about to have a breakdown. Or some ridiculous panic attack."

"I'm not worried. I just wanted to talk to you." Ino rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go."

"You guys see Sasuke?" Choji asked, opening a bag of chips.

"Honestly, Choji, can't you even take a break from eating before _practice_? What if you throw up?" Ino said, exasperated.

"This is my _routine_, Ino. One bag of barbecue flavor is my secret weapon before every practice. Two bags before games." He shoved a handful into his mouth.

"It's true." Kiba said. "Some sort of secret formula. Makes him play like a pro."

"Whatever." Ino sighed. "I'd try to explain that it's a _mental_ thing, not the _chips_. But both of you idiots wouldn't listen."

"So anyway, did you guys see him?" Choji asked.

Ino shook her and Sakura nodded.

"He was with Naruto." Sakura said.

"Why didn't you tell me you saw him?" Ino asked her.

"I just _saw_ you for the first time today like a minute ago." Sakura said, irritated.

"Well, he's coming to practice, apparently." Kiba said.

"Seriously?" Sakura said.

"Tryouts are tomorrow," Kiba said with a shrug, "So he can still join the team."

"Oh." Was all Sakura said.

* * *

They reached the football field and the boys broke off from them to join the rest of the football players on the field. Sakura scanned the group of boys and saw the telltale black hair almost immediately.

"Was he over there?" Ino asked Sakura as they headed toward the neighboring field where the squad was practicing that day.

"Yeah. He was on the far left." Sakura said without turning around.

Ino whirled around, looking for him, then whistled. Sakura glared at her.

"Well, you have to admit one thing," Ino said. "No matter how much we don't like him…"

"Don't say it." Sakura said, then sped up to join the group of girls stretching in the middle of the field.

"Sakura. Ino. Can't you set an example? Practice started twenty minutes ago and you're the captains." Coach Shizune said disapprovingly.

"Sorry. We got distracted." Ino said, sliding down into a split to which Sakura rolled her eyes.

"A distraction named Sasuke Uchiha, I'm guessing." Ami Watanabe said with a smirk to Kasumi, another girl on the squad.

"If you say anything else you're going on the bottom of the pyramid, you filthy hypocrite." Sakura said to Ami. "I heard you in math class."

Ami retreated with a bright red blush.

"Can we please start the routine? You all waste too much time." Shizune said.

"Alright, all of you," Ino said, standing up. "For the next two hours, the football team doesn't exist, you hear me? No matter how many shirts come off."

Sakura smiled reluctantly at Ino's bluntness.

Someone turned on their speakers and pop music blasted, and Sakura was able to tune out everything for the next hour except the pumping bass and the feel of the wind as she flipped through the air.

* * *

**A/N**: _So this is my first foray into the wide world of Naruto fan fiction. Needless to say it's pretty bad because I banged it out when I was sick and wanted something to do that wouldn't take much physical effort. The general plot of this story is still in the works._

_I really wanted to explore Sakura's character (obviously in a modern context) because she's one of my favorite characters. Hopefully I do her justice (but she's not going to be perfect). I'm a relatively new Naruto fan, one of my friends got me hooked on the anime this past year, and I haven't even caught up to the latest Shippuden yet (I know, I know). _

_Constructive criticism is appreciated, but don't be offended if I don't take every suggestion because this is totally, completely just for fun. I do other stuff with the writing I generally want to improve on; this is just to explore/have fun with these characters. These first few chapters will probably be changing a lot while I find out where I want to take this._

_Thanks!_


	2. Tryouts and Trials

Sakura was able to tune out everything for the next hour. Key word: hour. Because sixty minutes later, when they took a break for water, the majority of the team started inching toward the edge of the field to get a better look at the football players.

"Oh, honestly," Shizune said, getting up from the bleachers from which she had been coaching them. "All of you get back here now!" She screamed, drawing the attention of possibly everyone within a five-mile radius.

Sakura sighed, throwing down her water bottle and retying her ponytail. The other girls slunk back to the middle of the field, where Sakura and Ino proceeded to drill them into the ground.

"This is what pain feels like." Ino said loudly, walking amidst their ranks like a drill sergeant as they did pushups. "Remember that the next time you look at Kiba Inuzuka with his shirt off!"

After a final patrol, Ino came back to Sakura with a wicked grin.

"You're having way too much fun with this." Sakura muttered to her. "I'm a little scared."

"Oh, they're fine." Ino said dismissively. "It's no worse than gym class. Anyway, they needed it." She turned back to the rest of the girls. "Alright, you lousy slackers," she said, "You can stop. I'm taking pity on you."

There was a collective sigh of relief.

* * *

Sakura and Ino walked back to the locker rooms together to change.

"What're you doing tonight?" Ino asked her.

Sakura shrugged. "I have a lab report to do for Dr. Tsunade."

Ino sighed in exasperation. "Oh, come on, Forehead. You don't need to do everything the first day it's assigned."

"This is the most important class of my high school career," Sakura hissed. "Tsunade practically holds all the cards as to whether I get into the advanced premed program next year."

Ino held her hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright. So you don't want to hang out and…talk about stuff?"

"Nothing to talk about." Sakura said dismissively.

"If you insist." Ino said, not pursuing the subject. "Anyway, it's just as well. I told Shikamaru I'd meet him for dinner after practice, anyway."

"So what were you going to do if I _did_ want to go out?"

"I knew you were going to turn me down." Ino said with a slight smile. "I know you too well."

* * *

Sakura left Ino to wait for Shikamaru. She to get her books from her locker but ran into Kiba at the end of the hallway, leaving straight from practice and drenched in sweat.

"Hey, Sakura," He said, wiping his forehead.

"Hi, Kiba. What's up?"

"Eh, nothing." He held the door open for her as they left.

"Thanks. How was practice?"

He shrugged, looking irritated. "Fine. Sasuke's gonna be quarterback, I can just tell. The guy's like all muscle."

"I've heard." Sakura said.

"I take back what I said earlier," Kiba said. "Feel free to mess his face up as much as you want. He's gonna get all the girls. It's freaking ridiculous." He looked at her.

Sakura couldn't help laughing loudly at that. They reached the parking lot and split off, Kiba to his car and her to the sidewalk.

"You want a ride?" He asked her.

"No, I'm gonna walk. Thanks anyway, though." She said with a smile. "See you tomorrow."

"See ya."

She turned and started walking, giving a quick wave when Kiba passed her in his car a moment later with a honk.

Sakura almost always walked home. She had her license, but it was a habit from middle school that she didn't want to break. She was always begging her parents for a ride to school when she was younger, but she started liking the solitariness more and more as she got older; it gave her time to think.

* * *

Her parents weren't there when she got home, which was to be expected. Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno worked long hours at work (hours that grew longer and longer as Sakura got older), and Kizashi especially was often away on business trips.

Sakura made a quick dinner for herself, already thinking about the four-page lab report Dr. Tsunade had assigned that day. The physiology class she taught was one of the toughest classes offered at Konoha Academy (only top students were accepted into her class), but Tsunade was connected to so many people at Konoha University. A recommendation from her could do wonders for Sakura in the university's medical program. Sakura had had her heart set on becoming a doctor for years now. And she would work as hard as she needed to, harder even, to make that happen.

* * *

Ino picked Sakura and Hinata up the next morning and the three of them stopped for breakfast before going to school. After the typical inquiries by Ino as to whether Naruto was paying enough attention to Hinata (yes, of course, except when he had a bowl of ramen in front of him), and a rant about how Shikamaru was too 'tired' to do anything fun after 9:00 at night, Ino started blasting her favorite radio station with all the windows down (Hinata cringing in the backseat and Sakura protesting that 7:30 was too early for this), drawing the attention of everyone as she pulled into the school parking lot.

But being the center of attention was, of course, one of Ino's favorite things. She had had no trouble assuming her role as a senior, and self-titled Queen of Campus. Which was why Sakura shook her head with a slight smile when she saw a small group had congregated by Ino's parking spot: the boyfriends (Shikamaru and Naruto), Chouji, Sai, and several other football players.

"Did the whole football team seriously wait for us?" Sakura asked with raised eyebrows.

"You honestly don't know how popular you are, do you, Forehead?" Ino said, impatiently motioning the group to move out the way and pulling into her spot.

To be honest, Sakura didn't want to think about popularity that much. Alright, she knew she was popular, but she liked to think she had a lot of friends because she tried to be nice to everyone.

That may or may not have been the only reason she was popular, because Sakura was also very pretty, and the truth that no one liked to admit was that looks are a very, very big factor in the hierarchy that is high school. And Sakura could sometimes be naïve about the power her looks had over other people. Particularly boys.

* * *

After praise from Dr. Tsunade (as well as an order to come in on Thursday afternoon for a mandatory 'extra credit' assignment), who had quickly looked over Sakura's lab report when she turned it in first period, as well as an A on an AP Biology test from Mr. Sarutobi, Sakura was in a good mood for cheerleading practice. She walked up to the field with Sai, who was expressing his nervousness that he wouldn't get his ideal position in the awkwardly formal way he always had of talking.

"I feel that there is a lot of new talent, that I might not be able to live up to Coach Asuma's standards." He said.

"You'll be fine, Sai. Seriously, you've got to be the fastest on the team, no matter how many new amazing freshmen there are, or whatever."

"You're right as always, Sakura. I suppose I'm worked up over nothing. I just hope we'll find the right person to replace Neji as quarterback. It was his skill that won us so many games last year."

"I'm sure you will." Sakura said. Even if she hadn't heard Kiba's prediction the day before, she already had a gut feeling as to who would be the quarterback that year.

They reached the football field and she broke off from Sai with a final 'Good luck' to join the girls warming up on the neighboring field.

* * *

Coach Shizune ended practice early, as was customary, because the girls always liked to watch the football tryouts (that afternoon most of them were also too stiff from the workout of the previous day to have anything resembling a productive practice). By the time they stopped, there was a huge crowd already in the bleachers. Even Ino went, (she had apologized to Sakura earlier that day, saying that she had told Shikamaru she'd be there for moral support).

"I'm sure he'll appreciate you screaming at him to move his ass," Sakura had said, to which Ino had rolled her eyes.

"He knows it makes him play better." Ino said, completely sure of herself.

Sakura, however, was not going to watch the tryouts. She knew she wouldn't be able to stand watching Sasuke play football with all of her friends like nothing had happened, while a hundred girls exclaimed over him.

Instead, Sakura walked back down to the school to do some work and wait for Ino and Hinata. The three of them were going out to dinner, Ino and Hinata to celebrate their respective boyfriends getting their preferred positions on the varsity team (assuming, of course, that the gifted freshmen Sai had mentioned hadn't upstaged them).

She opened her books and started scribbling down some notes, but closed her notebook less than an hour later when she heard the unmistakable sound of Ino's voice (and laughter). She dropped her bag on the table where she had been working to meet up with her, walking down the math hallway and turning the corner to come face to face with not only Ino and Hinata, but almost all of her friends: Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, and Sai. And, just behind them…Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed when he saw her. He was swinging an overwhelmed Hinata's hand energetically. "We all made it! I mean, Coach Asuma's still deliberating over who'll be quarterback, but we all have a spot!"

"Well, there was no question." Sakura said with a smile, focusing on Naruto and making sure not to even glance at Sasuke.

"Yeah, I guess you're right! Anyway, the whole group's going out to celebrate. You'd better be coming!"

"Everyone's going?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"Yeah, of course." Naruto said.

Sasuke was looking at Sakura but she didn't make eye contact with him.

"I told them it was a girls thing," Ino said, looking at Sakura apologetically, "but the idiots wouldn't listen."

"Hey!" Naruto said.

If Sasuke was going, there was no way she was going to go. "Listen, I'm gonna have to back out. I don't mean to be the killjoy but I have a ton of work to do."

"Oh, come on Sakura." Kiba said.

"No, seriously. You guys have fun, though. I'm really glad about you all making the team. Obviously you know that."

"Yeah," Naruto grumbled. "I just figured you could come and talk to—"

"Naruto, don't forget Forehead has to keep up her reputation as Konoha's most perfect student," Ino cut in before Naruto could finish his sentence.

Normally Sakura hated it when Ino mocked her obsession with school, but now she was grateful for the diversion.

"That's right, Pig," she said. "I'll get into college and you'll get drunk. Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

There was a chorus of goodbyes (from everyone except Sasuke) and Sakura left. It was the first time she'd rather be doing anything but hanging out with her friends.

* * *

Sakura drove to school the next morning. It had been almost two weeks since she had taken her car out anywhere, and she didn't like to leave it sitting dejectedly in the garage for too long.

She didn't see any of her friends until she was going to her first period English class, when who should be walking toward her but Naruto and Sasuke. There was no way to avoid them.

"Hi, Naruto," She said, continuing her primary strategy of Not Looking at Sasuke.

Naruto frowned, noticing her obvious ignorance of Sasuke.

"You, uh, okay, Sakura?"

"Yeah, I'm great. How was last night?"

"Pretty good. We all missed you, though."

"Yeah, sorry. I've got so much homework from Dr. Tsunade, you wouldn't believe it."

"She's a slave driver, that old lady."

"She's a genius, actually. And she's not _that_ old. But yeah. I have to stay and do some work for her after school today."

"Aw, sucks." Naruto had brightened when insulting Tsunade, but was now glancing between her and Sasuke.

"Well, I have to get to class. I'll see you later, Naruto." Sakura walked past them before Naruto could say anything about the tall, black haired elephant in the room.

She tuned out everything people continued to say about Sasuke after she heard, via a text from Ino, that he'd (officially) been made quarterback. _What a surprise, _she thought as she read the text under her desk in Calculus. She sighed and tried to tune out everything except Mr. Ebisu droning on and on about trigonometry. It didn't work.

* * *

Despite everything else she was thinking about, Sakura couldn't help feeling nervous as she knocked on the door of Dr. Tsunade's room that afternoon.

"Come in!"

Sakura pushed the door open slowly. "Um, Dr. Tsunade?"

"Ah, Sakura." Tsunade was sitting at her desk. "Close the door behind you too, will you?"

Sakura obeyed her.

"Listen, I'm going to cut straight to the chase." Tsunade set down her pen. "I've heard about you from several of your past teachers. Obviously you've passed the first test of getting into my class, and I think you show a lot of promise. I'm not one who likes playing favorites, but I think you're very smart, and could take that skill far. If you're willing to work for it, that is."

Sakura felt a warm feeling inside at Tsunade's words. "I've always been willing to work for it. No matter what I have to do, I'll do it."

Tsunade smirked. "Don't speak too soon. Today I just want you to organize some files."

"Organize…some files?" _What is this? _Sakura wondered.

"Yes." Tsunade handed her a sheaf of manila folders. "Read over these reports, organize them how you see fit. It should take at least an hour to read them all."

"I—Alright."

"Excellent. When you're done you're free to go. You can leave those on my desk. I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura." Tsunade picked up her large handbag and stood up abruptly, then left the room.

"Wait…" Sakura said, then realized how pathetic it sounded. She sighed. She had heard that Tsunade was…Eccentric? Unpredictable?…but she hadn't expected anything like this.

_Well, she said she thought I had promise. And coming from someone with her credentials, that has to be a good thing. No matter if she makes me organize random files after school. I said I'd do anything, and I will._

Sakura turned determinedly to the stack of papers.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Sakura's eyes hurt from the tiny text of medical reports, but she had organized them in the best way she'd seen fit. There was nothing wrong with alphabetical order, was there?

She stood up, stretched, and shouldered her bag. It was five thirty; cheerleading practice would have ended by then. Maybe she'd find Ino and the two of them could go for dinner. Assuming of course the boys didn't interfere again. She couldn't stand another Naruto/Sasuke run-in.

Sakura pushed open the door but, one step into the hallway, froze at the instantly recognizable silhouette of the person leaning against the wall next to her, and the deep voice that she wanted to pretend didn't exist.

"Sakura. We need to talk."

* * *

**A/N: **_So originally this story was supposed to be much more serious, but I ended up just going to town, especially with Ino's character, because I couldn't resist. Honestly I'm having so much fun with this story, it's distracting me from school work which is a slight problem because this year's looking like it's going to be stressful as hell...And there I was sitting in math class today, thinking up the confrontation scene that's going to come in the next chapter :) ...when I should have been paying attention._

_Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! I really want to hear your feedback/opinion of this thing so far._

_**General warning: the next chapter has some language (I got a few complaints and I realized I probably should've put this in)._


	3. Confrontation

"I heard you made quarterback. Congratulations." Her words dripped in sarcasm.

He sighed. "Come on. Outside." He started walking toward the door.

She considered just walking away, but she followed him, fists clenched.

"What could you possibly have to talk to me about?" She asked, trying to keep outright anger out of her voice. It was just barely hostile, right now.

"Why are you ignoring me?" He said in a low voice, more of a statement than a question.

She couldn't hold it back. "Well, It definitely has nothing to do with the way you just left all of us, three years ago, and dropped off the face of the earth."

"Are you still mad about that goodbye?" She couldn't tell what it was in voice.

Sakura laughed humorlessly. "Seriously? You think I care about what happened on the bus stop? I care about the fact that you left Naruto, me, all of your friends, just cut all of your ties. Without a second glance."

"I had no choice." Sasuke was still unnervingly emotionless. That hadn't changed.

"Really." She said, not bothering to phrase it as a question.

"Yes." Sasuke said. "You wouldn't understand."

_Oh, really. Still going to treat me like that, is he? _"Why don't you fucking try me, Sasuke, because I'm not the same idiot you left at that bus stop."

Sasuke blinked at her words, the first sign Sakura noticed that showed her words were having some effect on him.

"You still wouldn't understand it." Sasuke said, though something in his tone made Sakura think he was thinking about something.

Despite her careful control of her emotions, now she was getting angry. "Of course I wouldn't have understood what you were feeling. But you want to know something, _Sasuke-kun_?" Her use of his old childhood nickname lost all of its affection in her mocking voice. "When you left, I changed. I fucking grew up. Because little, whiny, naïve Sakura fucking died, that's how much it hurt. But I don't care. I'm glad. I wouldn't change it for anything, because now I can fucking stand myself."

There was a release of emotion that made her feel so good for a second. She had finally said it. She turned and started walking away.

"Sakura!" For once, Sasuke's voice was loud. She heard him walking fast to catch up with her. She didn't turn around. They were in the parking lot, her car wasn't far away.

She turned around. "You're back, and you think that automatically makes up for everything. I don't care if Naruto's forgiven you, he's always been too good for you. But I'm not like Naruto, I'm not like Kiba or Shikamaru or whoever else is fine with you now. I don't want you to apologize for anything, I don't want some fucking chase. I'm not expecting one, because you _are_ Sasuke Uchiha, after all, and nothing matters to you except yourself. I just wanted an explanation, but now that I can't expect that, there's nothing left to say to each other."

Sakura kept walking. She was almost to her car.

"You don't know what _happened_, Sakura." Sasuke said from behind her, that familiar irritated tone in his voice.

"Of course I don't know what happened. I don't care anymore." That wasn't true, but Sakura's goal was to dig the knife as deep as she could. She didn't care if it was warranted or not, whether or not Sasuke had some miracle story that would make up for anything. "I don't care if you're friends with Naruto now, or whatever. But don't expect anything from me." She got in her car and started it. Sasuke was just standing there, eyes slightly narrowed, but he didn't attempt to make her stop. She drove away, leaving him standing in the parking lot.

When Sakura felt the tears coming down her cheeks as she drove, she was furious with herself.

* * *

"Come—ON!" Sakura threw her weight into her hand as it slammed into the punching bag. She felt a satisfying ache in her knuckles as she pulled off the black boxing glove. She was sweaty, tired, and aching, and it was the best feeling in the world. Only when she was punching things did she really feel normal.

"Done yet?" Sakura turned to see Ino sitting on one of the benches outside the ring, looking extremely bored.

"When did you get here?"

"Like a minute ago. I tried texting you after you didn't show up at practice. I even called your house." Ino watched her. "Then I realized you'd probably be here. When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Sakura pulled off her other glove and let it drop on the floor.

"That you and Sasuke…talked."

"How did you know?"

"Naruto said something. He was annoyed because Sasuke was annoyed. Honestly, the two of them."

"Sasuke was annoyed?" Sakura took a sip from her water bottle. She hadn't seen Sasuke at school that day. She couldn't care less what he was feeling, she decided.

"Well, he's always annoyed, but he was more annoyed than usual, apparently. He left before practice." Ino looked at her. "Like another person I know."

"What about it?" Sakura snapped.

"What did you say to him? Because you're both clearly upset about it."

"I'm not upset about it. I told him everything he should've heard from Naruto. And more. That's it." She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"Well, good." Ino stood up when Sakura reached her. "But why did you skip practice?"

"I had to..."

"Hit some stuff?" Ino asked with a grin.

"Yeah."

"Forehead, I'm pretty sure you're the only person who skips cheerleading practice to go pound the living daylights out of a poor punching bag."

Sakura grinned. "Well, I'm very unique."

"Psh. Yeah, that's for sure."

"Enough with the sarcasm, Pig. You know it would take hours to list all of your weird fetishes."

"Ew, what are you talking about? If by weird fetishes you mean my love of makeup and espresso, that's completely uncalled for."

"I was more thinking along the lines of glitter and bubblegum toothpaste. And butts."

"Shut up. The bubblegum toothpaste thing stopped when we were like ten!"

"Sure it did."

They drove each other crazy, but Sakura didn't think she'd have been able to get through everything without Ino's humor (and their constant teasing of each other). No one understood her better than Ino.

"Come on, Pig," Sakura said. "Let's go get dinner."

"You want to?" Ino looked genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, just let me change first. I'm disgusting right now."

"Yes, you are."

Sakura showered quickly in the gym bathroom and changed back into her clothes from school. She squeezed her hair over the sink to get the worst of the water out. Then she rejoined Ino, who was examining her nails.

"Ready? Your hair's soaking wet."

Sakura waved a hand dismissively. "Doesn't matter. There's a breeze out, it'll dry." Normally she cared more, but right now she couldn't be bothered. Boxing had put her in a good mood.

"Whatever you say." Ino stood up. "Shall we?"

The two girls walked out to Ino's car.

"Where do you want to go?" Ino asked as they drove, Sakura letting the wind ruffle her hair through the open window.

"I don't care, you choose. Just not Ichiraku, the boys always go there on Fridays after practice."

"Hidden Leaf it is, then." Ino did a sketchy parallel parking job down the street from the Hidden Leaf Café, her favorite restaurant.

The restaurant was packed, but the girls managed to get a table in the back.

"Sakura! Ino!"

The two girls turned to see Tenten, a friend of theirs who had graduated the year before, coming up to their table.

"Tenten! What are you doing here?" Ino asked.

Tenten held up a little pad of paper with a sheepish smile. "I'm working here weekends. I want to transfer to Suna University next year, but I need the money first."

"Neji's at Suna, right?" Ino asked with a mischievous smile.

Tenten sighed exasperatedly but smiled. "Yeah, he is. That's not the only reason I'm going, though, they've got a great Criminology program there."

"You guys are…still together, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, of course! He's doing some sociology courses right now, but I think he'll end up in private investigation or something."

"That would be cool. Seems like something he'd be good at." Sakura said.

"Yeah, I know." Tenten grinned. "He sees way too much."

Ino coughed dramatically.

"Do you see much of Lee?" Sakura asked, changing the subject and shooting Ino a glare before the blond could say anything suggestive.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "He always texts me wanting to know if I've seen you. I never see him, though, he's too busy overachieving in every class."

Sakura smiled. Lee was a classmate of Tenten and Neji who had had a crush on her since they were young. He had asked Sakura out when they were about twelve, and she had turned him down (gently). Honestly, back then he had creeped her out. A year later he had made a this ridiculous speech to her, saying it was alright if his love was always unrequited. They had been friends since then, though Lee was always too busy trying to be the best at everything for much else. He was also always trying to beat out Neji, one of his best friends, and there was universal agreement that Neji Hyuuga was one of the best athletes and students to come through Konoha Academy (but actually: Neji was naturally gifted at just about everything, except for maybe small talk).

"Of course he is. Well, tell him I say hi, if you ever see him."

"Yeah, sure. So how's the football team this year?"

"Well, obviously your boyfriend left a big whole," Ino said, "but we got a new quarterback."

"Oh, who?"

"Sasuke Uchiha." Ino said, with just the slightest glance toward Sakura.

"Sasuke? He came back?" Tenten's mouth was wide open in surprise.

"Yep. Came back Monday, was quarterback by Thursday."

"Well, he was always really athletic wasn't he? He was almost as good as Neji in middle school." Tenten said.

"And that says a lot." Ino quipped. "Neji _is_ Mr. Perfect, after all."

"Oh, shut up, Ino." Sakura said.

"Is he still as…brooding…as he was?" Tenten asked. "I never knew him that well, but still."

Ino shrugged. "We haven't really talked to him."

Tenten frowned and was about to say something else when they were interrupted by a woman who looked to be in her early thirties in a waitress's apron, walking briskly toward them with a glare. "Tenten! We pay you to do your _job_, not talk to your friends!"

"Sorry, Suzume." Tenten said.

"Don't apologize. _Take their orders_." The woman said before turning around and marching away.

"Ouch." Ino said.

"Yeah, that's my boss for you." Tenten shrugged and then readied her pencil. "So what can I get you guys?"

"Caesar salad, to share. You okay with that, Forehead?"

"I'll have it with chicken," Sakura told Tenten. "I'm starving."

"She was boxing like a man all afternoon," Ino told Tenten.

"You mean she was boxing like a pro all afternoon?" Tenten said, at the same time Sakura hissed "Sexist pig."

"Hey, come on, Forehead. It's just jealousy. Except not really. I'm perfectly fine with cheerleading and track."

"Well, thanks for the support, anyway, Tenten." Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "See how supportive Ino is?"

"Oh come on. I'm a _great_ friend." Ino said.

"Alright," Tenten was laughing. "I'm gonna go put your orders in. But if I come back to this table Suzume will probably fire me, so…See you guys soon?"

"Yeah, it was great seeing you, Tenten." Sakura said with a smile.

"You too. Don't get up to any trouble with the boys, either of you."

"I don't think you need to worry about me." Sakura said. "Ino's the one to worry about."

"_Excuse me_?" Ino fumed.

Tenten laughed. "Oh, I know. Alright, well, I'll see you both around." She turned and took their order back to the kitchen.

* * *

An hour later, Sakura and Ino left the restaurant and walked back to Ino's car in the darkening street.

"Want to stay over?" Ino asked.

"No, my dad's getting back tonight. He's probably expecting me to be home."

"Alright. See you tomorrow then? We have practice and you'd better not skip again."

"I'll be there, don't worry." Sakura said, rolling her eyes.

"Good. I can't handle the freshman without your presence. Shizune just yells, and that does absolutely nothing."

"You handled them fine when you were playing dictator."

"Yeah, but if I do that all the time I'll be kicked off the team for misusing my power."

"True. Well, now they know what to expect if they disobey us. And they're really not that bad when the football team's not around."

"Yeah, you're right."

Ino pulled into Sakura's driveway several minutes later. "See you. Call me if you wanna talk."

"Yep. See you tomorrow." Sakura got out and waved as Ino drove away, then walked up to the house that had lights on in the windows, meaning that, for once, one or both of her parents were home. And even if she wasn't very close to them, it gave her a slightly warmer feeling.

* * *

**A/N**:_ And I present the confrontation. Sorry, no storybook love confession for these two. Sakura's changed (in this and in the actual Naruto universe) and I don't think her taking Sasuke back that easily is believable (at all). I like the idea that Sasuke's the one who's going to have to prove himself to her over time (except this is Sasuke Uchiha we're talking about, so who knows what'll happen...). _

_As for the long conversation with Tenten: a lot of the fanfiction I've read kind of ignores Team Gai, so I wanted to bring them in a bit. _

_Anyway...Review! (or PM me, or whatever) I really want to hear feedback. Also thanks to everyone who's favorited/followed this story, I was honestly shocked that anyone even read it (and liked it?) in the first place. You guys are awesome :)_


	4. Departure

"Sakura, what happened?"

Sakura, leaving English class, turned to see Naruto (who had clearly been waiting for her right outside the classroom).

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked. She wove around the crowds heading toward the cafeteria for lunch and Naruto darted after her to keep up.

"Hold up a sec—what happened with you and Sasuke?"

"Oh, come on, Naruto. What do you think happened?"

Naruto's blue eyes were wide. "I've got no idea."

Sakura opened her locker, threw her books in, and slammed it fiercely. "I told Sasuke what _you_ should've told him. He sure as hell doesn't deserve anything from me."

"I know he doesn't! Well, maybe…I don't know. I don't see why you two can't just start over."

"Maybe you can start over, Naruto," Sakura said with a sigh, "but it's not the same for me."

"Now you're acting all superior—" Naruto said.

"It's not the same." Sakura said through gritted teeth. "You need to understand that, Naruto. I'm not like you, I can't forgive him for what he did. You know I tried to stop him at the bus stop, you don't know what he said but I told you know how he acted. And you know what happened after. Maybe I can understand some of it, but I can't forgive him. It's not going to happen."

"Sakura, he's changed!"

"Didn't seem like it when I talked to him." Sakura said.

"I swear, he's different…You both are."

"Maybe we are, but that's not the point. It doesn't matter anymore. Listen, Naruto, I don't care if you've forgiven him, I guess I admire you for it, I don't know. But I can't get around this. We're different people now, and that means…Well, we're leading different lives. That's it. I learned to live without Sasuke, and just because he's back doesn't mean _anything_ is going to change. We're not living in a fairy tale, there's no magic here."

Sakura felt the tiniest twinge as she said those words, but she shut it down. What she was saying was right. She was different.

Naruto eyes were narrowed, but more in confusion than anger.

"Nothing you say is going to change it, okay? This is one thing you can't help with."

"I—"

"I'll see you later, Naruto." Sakura said firmly. She walked away, knowing this was right. She was different, she knew it, Naruto knew it, everyone knew it. And good riddance. She had said goodbye to Naïve Sakura that night three years ago, and she had never missed her.

* * *

_It was a brilliantly clear night, everything lit by the stars. No __cliché __rain clouds in sight. After a few years, whenever Sakura looked back on that day, that fact always gave her this strange sort of twisted amusement._

_ When Sasuke wasn't at Kakashi's house, she knew immediately where he was. It was a gut feeling. _Because they were soulmates_, Naïve Sakura had thought. As if. She ran to the bus stop, not stopping until she reached the dark parking lot and ran into the station. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. It was late; the whole place was deserted. But she knew he would be here. She leaned against the wall for a moment, trying to catch her breath, but it kept coming in gasps. Then she saw him come around the corner. He saw her immediately, and his eyes narrowed._

_ "It's the middle of the night. Why are you here?" _

_ "This is the only stop with a bus to Oto." _

_ "You should go home." _

_ "What are you talking about? Sasuke, are you actually going to go?" _

_ "It's none of your concern." She was getting more and more distraught, and his cold tone was cutting her to the bone. _

_ "Why won't you ever tell me anything? It's always silence with you, you never share _anything_—"_

_ "Why should I have to tell _you_ anything? Keep your nose out of my business."_

_ "Sasuke, we're _friends_!"  
_

_"If you think that we're friends, you don't understand anything." _

_ Sakura was purposely ignoring what he was saying. "I know about your family! I know…I know what it would feel like to be alone! I have a family, and friends, but if you were gone, Sasuke…It would be the same thing as being alone! I'm so _in love_ with you!"_

_ There was a pause. "You still don't understand _anything_, Sakura. You never have." His words hit her so hard she gasped._

_ She could hear the bus coming from down the street, and she was sobbing. "Sasuke, please! Don't get on that bus, don't leave me! I'd do anything for you, just stay with me! And if you can't stay…Take me with you!"_

_ "Go home, Sakura." Sasuke said, face expressionless and voice cold. "You don't know what you're talking about. You need to let this go." _

_ "But what about Naruto? What about everyone? You can't just leave them, you can't just leave _me_!" Sakura was hysterical._

_ "Of course I can. Nothing here matters anymore. I have to leave."_

_ "How can—How can you say that?" _

_ The bus pulled up and the doors opened with a hiss. She always remembered that sound. Sasuke turned his back on her and started walking. _

_"SASUKE!" She yelled and rushed toward him. "Even if you do this, it won't help! It won't solve _anything_, it won't fill any holes_!"

_ "Don't follow me, Sakura." He said without looking at her, but just the tone of his voice made her stop. "You need to leave."_

_ "How can you do this, Sasuke?" She said quietly._

_ "You can have nothing to do with it. It's my only choice." _

_ She was frozen in place as she watched him get on the bus and the doors closed behind him. It drove away and Sakura could only watch, unable to move a muscle._

* * *

Sakura used to block that memory out of her mind because she couldn't bear to think about what Sasuke had said. Slowly, that had changed; she blocked it out because she couldn't bear that she had ever said those things to him. Her infatuation from the beginning had been based solely on Sasuke's good looks and whatever aspects of his personality she had convinced herself were good qualities. When he was arrogant, she called it confidence. When he was impulsive, she called it noble. Ever since she had realized that, she was sickened by the thought of her younger self. Sasuke might have had redeeming qualities when he was younger, but then he had been _consumed_ by anger and that extreme desire for revenge, and she was always so blind. Sakura had thought she knew what he was feeling, but the older she got, the more she realized how _stupid_ she had been. She thought she knew everything when she was younger (now she shuddered just thinking about that).

In some perverse way, she felt like the more she realized she didn't understand, the more she understood.

Whatever. Like she had said to Naruto, it didn't matter anymore. She had gotten used to a life without Sasuke (that sounded too dramatic, but it was true.). Just because he was back..._Nothing_ was going to change.

* * *

**A/N: **_Sorry, it's a short and heavy chapter. But now you get to see a bit of younger Sakura, and older Sakura's opinion of her (and how hard she is on herself). I actually wrote a bunch of flashback scenes and debated for a long time about putting them in, but I ended up just using the goodbye. Still not too happy with it, so expect some edits._

_Review, PM, tell me what you think :)_


	5. Back in Time (10)

**_10_**

_"Sakura! Sakura, did you hear?"_

_ Naruto was running toward her, and the first thing ten-year-old Sakura should have noticed to let her know something was wrong was his face, which for once was completely serious._

_ "What's wrong?" She asked, not really caring. She had just gotten a C on her math test, and wasn't in the mood to talk to Naruto, of all people. He was always so obnoxious. _

_ "You mean…You didn't hear?" Naruto had caught up to her. His eyes were huge._

_ "What? What happened?" Sakura noticed then. _

_ "Come on, we need to go to the Uchiha mansion."_

_ "Uchiha—Is it Sasuke? Did something happen to Sasuke?"_

_ "No, Sasuke's fine. It's—We need to see it, everyone's going up there. The house caught fire!"_

_ "The house _caught fire_? But—how do you know if Sasuke's okay? What if he was inside?" Sakura started to freak out._

_ "He wasn't inside, he was at practice! And everyone else was at the festival, that's why no one noticed! It happened hours ago!" Naruto was pulling her down the road, but she started to run too._

_ Well, if Sasuke was okay, that was all that mattered, Sakura thought. Still, how could Naruto be sure that Sasuke hadn't been there?_

_ They sprinted through town together, past empty streets strung with decorations for Konoha's annual Harvest Festival. Sakura could hear sirens from far away, she had heard them from school, but had assumed it was the normal police sirens. _Uchiha_ police sirens._

_ They got to the residential district, and that was when Sakura saw the smoke rising. There were people standing outside their houses, looking up at the sky and just watching. That had always bothered Sakura, when she got older. They hadn't gone to see if they could help; they'__d just stood watching. Of course, so had she._

_ The two of them reached the Uchiha mansion five minutes later. Or what had been the Uchiha mansion. Now it was a charred wreck. The remains of one of the walls was collapsing as they watched. Something like this had never been seen in Konoha. Sakura felt a shock go through her as she stared at it. How had it burned so fast?_

_ Three fire engines were parked around the building, with one group of fire fighters still spraying water on the flames flickering in the wreckage. Police cars were parked to cordon off the yard, but hardly anyone was there._

_ "Where's Sasuke? I don't see him anywhere!" Sakura said to Naruto. She was on the verge of tears._

_ "You're looking for Sasuke Uchiha?" One of the firemen called from where he stood next to the closest fire engine, giving them a concerned look. "I'd go to the police station."_

_ "Right," Naruto said with a sigh of relief, "he'll be there with his parents." _

_ "I—" The man stopped abruptly. _

_ "Thanks, old man!" Naruto called. "Come on, Sakura-chan!"_

_ The two of them ran back towards the center of town, to the police station. Sasuke's father was police chief and his mother was in the force. Of course he'd be there, Sakura thought._

_ But when they reached the station, there was yellow caution tape all around the perimeter and police officers everywhere. Unlike the deserted site of the fire, there was a huge crowd of people gathered around the station._

_ "What happened?" Naruto asked no one in particular._

_ "You didn't hear?" The woman next to them said. "They set the mansion on fire, then came here…and shot Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha."_

_ "Sasuke's parents?" Naruto said, horrified. _

_"Wait, what about Sasuke?" Sakura asked anxiously, at the same time Naruto demanded, "Who did it?" _

___"They don't know who it was. At least, they're not telling anyone what they suspect. Whoever it was cleared out immediately." The woman said to Naruto, then turned to Sakura. __"Sasuke? Their son? He's fine. Though after this, I don't know." The woman looked at her strangely._

_ "Sakura, we need to find Sasuke!" Naruto said. _

_ "How do they know he's okay?" Sakura asked Naruto. She was panicking now (and not thinking at all about Sasuke's parents)._

_ "Because he wasn't there, but we still need to go find him!" Naruto said loudly. _

_ "Sakura. Naruto." _

_ The two of them turned around to see Kakashi Hatake, a past teacher of theirs, now a full time police officer._

_ "Sasuke's fine. But don't go looking for him. He needs to be alone right now."_

_ "Sasuke's okay?" Sakura felt the knot inside her loosen up at that. _

_ "As okay as he could be under the circumstances." Kakashi said, face unreadable under his tight bandana._

_ "I still want to find him!" Naruto said stubbornly. _

_ "Naruto, leave him alone. Don't find Sasuke until he's ready to talk to you, which he isn't."_

_ "Why not? Sasuke's my best friend—"_

_ "Naruto." Kakashi said. "Both of you should go home, alright? Your parents will want you there, Sakura. And the same goes for you with Jiraiya, Naruto."_

_ "Fine." Naruto said angrily. __He started walking away fast, not looking back. Sakura ran to catch up with him._

_ "At least Sasuke's okay!" She said brightly._

_ "Yeah," Naruto said bitterly. "But his parents aren't."_

_ Sakura had only known Sasuke's parents well enough to recognize them on the street. She didn't understand why Naruto was so angry._

_But he was clearly upset, so Sakura didn't say anything else. They separated once reaching Naruto's street, and Sakura continued on to her own house. Both of her parents were waiting inside. _

_ "Did you hear?" Her mother asked._

_ "Yeah," Sakura said, "but Sasuke's okay."_

_ Her mother just shook her head and hugged Sakura, who didn't know what she had said._

* * *

Sakura tapped her pencil on her desk, frustrated. She watched the rain coming down outside; it pounded down on the rooftop, yet things were eerily quiet. Cheerleading practice had been canceled, and she had turned down Ino's proposal to go get coffee in favor of going home to study for a math test. But now she couldn't concentrate.

"Sakura? Are you home?"

She jumped at the sound of her mother's voice from downstairs.

"Mom?" She got up and went to the top of the stairs. "I didn't realize you were getting back so soon."

Mebuki Haruno looked up at her. "Yes, we didn't finish behind schedule as I expected. There was a bus so I decided to come back early. Did you come home right after school?"

Sakura nodded. "Practice was canceled."

"Mm. Oh, I heard some interesting news earlier today, that Sasuke Uchiha came back? Is he going to school?"

"Yeah, I saw him the other day." Sakura said.

"That was all so surreal." Her mother said. "Such a strange story."

Sakura didn't say anything.

After Sasuke had left was also when she started getting more and more distanced from her parents; when she started changing so much and then everything around her seemed to change. She hadn't done it herself, or at least she wasn't trying to. But the first month or so after he left, when she had been so unsteady (well, that was one word for it), her parents hadn't noticed. Or if they had, they didn't think it was something to be worried about. To be fair, she hadn't told them anything, but she had thought they would've realized something was wrong. After all, she had gone to school one day a whole different person. But they hadn't seemed to see it. They had started working longer and longer hours that year, because she had been old enough to leave at home.

Whatever, it didn't matter. That had just made her stronger when she decided to put everything behind her. Her parents weren't there, that was fine. At least she had parents, she had told herself, even if they didn't really know anything about her.

"Are you doing alright in school, Sakura?" Her mother asked.

"Yes. Actually, I have a math test tomorrow that I should probably get back to studying for."

"Oh, in that case I won't keep you talking. I'm going to go do some paperwork in my office." Her mother immediately went back into the kitchen.

Sakura went back to her room, shut the door, and tried to concentrate once again. It was pointless. She couldn't focus.

Finally, she just gave up, threw down her pencil, and texted Ino and Hinata.

**Coffee?**

Hinata texted back a moment later: **I would love to! Now? **

Ino's response: **Indecisive much? But sure. When?**

Sakura sighed. **Great. 15 minutes?**

They both confirmed a minute later, so she stowed her books into her bag. She needed some noise.

She went downstairs and knocked on the door to her mother's office. "Mom? I'm going out to study with some friends. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Alright, Sakura. Have fun." Her mother called from inside.

Sakura put on a coat and pulled up her hood before going out into the rain to her car.

* * *

**A/N: **_This is the first of three flashback chapters. I debated for a while about putting them all together, but then decided to do this. So there'll be modern scenes as well in each chapter, because I want the focus to stay on the modern story (but some of the background obviously has to be filled in)._

_I was going to do an earlier update, but then I ended up not writing and watching a ton of Shippuden instead because it got. So. Good. Oh my God. I want to talk about it so badly, haha. _

_ Anyway, expect another update pretty soon (fingers crossed it's before next weekend). _


	6. Back in Time (12)

_**12**_

_"Hurry _up_, Sakura!" Ino turned around impatiently. _

_ "I'm coming!" Sakura said. She ran to catch up with Ino. "Stop being so pushy!"_

_ "You'll make us late for the first day of school!" Ino said exasperatedly._

_ "No I won't!" Sakura protested. The two of them had realized, upon getting to the entrance to school, that they were expected to be in homeroom in ten minutes. They also didn't know how to get there, because the seventh grade homerooms were in a whole different hallway from the fifth and sixth grade ones. _

_ The two girls burst into school, running down the hallway, and Ino stopped to ask an eighth grade boy for directions. Sakura cringed at the thought of having to ask an eighth grader. Everyone knew they acted like they were so much _better_ than everyone else._

_ But he pointed them in the right direction and the two girls ran along the hallway, making it just in time._

_ It looked like the whole class was already there, but Sakura was only looking for one person, and barely had time to prepare herself. She shivered with excitement when she spotted him. It had been two whole months. Sasuke was, of course, sitting at a desk in the corner. Naruto sat on the desk next to him and talked loudly about who knows what, swinging his legs. _

_Ino got sidetracked by Shikamaru and Choji, and Sakura couldn't say she was disappointed that Ino wouldn't be there to try and get all of Sasuke's attention. Still, Ino had seemed less enthusiastic when the two girls were debating whether he could have possibly gotten even cuter over the summer. __Sakura wondered if maybe Ino's obsessive crush on Sasuke was disappearing. T_hat would never happen to her_, Sakura thought. She and Sasuke were meant for each other. And if Ino wasn't competing for Sasuke, once Sasuke and Sakura were together maybe she and Ino could be really good friends again. They were friends, but Sasuke was always between them._

_Sakura pushed past a group of giggling girls to join the two boys. "Hi, Sasuke!" And then, "Hi, Naruto." _

_"Hi, Sakura!" Naruto said. Sasuke grunted._

_"How was your summer, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked._

_ "Hn." _

_ "My summer was great, Sakura-chan! Jiraiya and I went to Suna for two weeks."_

_ "That's great, Naruto." Sakura said, still watching Sasuke, who was looking out the window with his typical frown._

_ "Yeah, we went to this one pool, and then he—"_

_ "I do _not _want to hear what creepy stuff you and Jiraiya got up to!" Sakura said in a high voice._

_ "Hey! Come on, Sakura-chan!"_

_ Sakura glared at him, then turned back to Sasuke. "So what classes are you taking this year, Sasuke?" _

_ "The same ones as everyone else." Sasuke said, sounding annoyed. _

_ "Lighten up, teme, it's the first day of school!" Naruto said. _

_ "Shut up, dobe." Sasuke said, glaring at him. _

_"You guys are like an old married couple!" Sakura exclaimed with a giggle, and got the full force of Sasuke's glare (along with Naruto's). _

_ "Sorry!" She said with a laugh._

_"So are you excited for school, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked eagerly. _

_ "I guess." Sakura was good at memorization and did well, but she had never been into school. One of her main reasons for trying so hard was to keep up with Sasuke, after all. "What about you, Sasuke? Are you excited?" _

_ "Hn." _

_ "Oh, come on! Why can't you say something meaningful?" _

_ "Because you're annoying." Sasuke said._

_ Sakura pouted. "Fine. Be like that." _

_Sometimes it seemed like Sasuke didn't like her very much, but Sakura always put it out of her head. They were good friends, after all. Weren't they?_

* * *

"You study way too much, Forehead." Ino remarked, taking a sip of her latte.

Sakura, head bent and absorbed in math, said, "Shut up, Pig."

"I'm serious. If I'd known this was going to be a study party, I'd have stayed home." Ino said.

"It's a very big test," Hinata said. She had brought her books as well, and the two girls were working through a few problems together while Ino looked at her phone (and occasionally made sarcastic comments)

"I also care about doing well in school," Sakura said irritatedly, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

"Who says I don't care about school? I'm just not in the ridiculous classes that you two decided to suffer through."

"Mr. Ebisu _is_ a very good teacher," Hinata said.

"Yeah, and he's a pervert."

"Ino!" Hinata exclaimed.

"What? It's common knowledge. Or common rumor. One of the two."

"That's horrible, that people say that." Hinata said.

Ino shrugged. "Well, it's high school. What do you expect?"

Hinata sighed.

"Hey, Hinata, did you get the answer to number 32 on the review?" Sakura, who hadn't been listening to the conversation, looked up at the two of them.

"Yes, I think so, I'll check." Hinata riffled through her notes.

Ino sighed dramatically.

Sakura glared at her. "We're not keeping you here."

"Sorry, Forehead, I'll stop." Ino grinned. "I've got nowhere else to be. Anyway, I feel smarter when I'm around you two studying." She shrugged.

"You _are_ smart." Sakura said.

"Maybe at some things. Like, my fashion sense will always be better than yours."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'm serious."

Ino just shrugged and said nothing.

"Alright," Hinata said. "I found my work for number 32. Do you want me to explain it to you?"

"That would be great." Sakura said, pushing over her scribbled, messy notes to compare with Hinata's neat script.

An hour later, they put the books away in favor of dinner. Ino launched into a long story about a drive Shikamaru had taken her on over the weekend, but when they stopped for dinner he had decided that Ino's idea, making out in the car, would be too exhausting.

"If he weren't so hot, we'd be done." Ino said.

"No you wouldn't," Sakura said, rolling her eyes with a smile. "You've liked him since when? Eighth grade? Don't deny it, all your hook-ups with other guys prove nothing."

"I admit nothing about eighth grade crushes. Besides, it's only been a year and a half since we started going out. And honestly, it's ridiculous. He can't stay awake for more than four hours, it's a nightmare at parties. Not that there have been any good parties lately, but once football season really gets going, he'll be even worse—"

"You better not be talking about me, Ino." Shikamaru appeared next to their table, holding a cup of coffee and a bag.

All three girls jumped and and Ino blushed bright red (Shikamaru was the only person who could do that to her. Sakura always thought that was one of the reasons they liked each other so much).

no collected herself however, and said, "Who else would I be talking about? You're the most infuriating person on the planet. I mean, you refused to make out with _me_. No one else would ever dare. You fell _asleep, _you lazy jerk. Who _does_ that?"

"Low blow, Yamanaka." Shikamaru said. He yawned. "You're not _studying_, are you? That's out of character."

"I swear, Shikamaru," Ino growled.

"Ino, I'm joking. You're way too crazy."

"Then why are you dating me?" Ino asked him, switching gears with a wicked smile. "Admit it, I'm irresistible."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "That doesn't make you any less crazy."

"See, you're admitting it." Ino grabbed his hand under the table. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Stalking us?"

"You _told_ me where you were. But no, I have to go pick up Choji. He missed his bus coming home from somewhere and he's too lazy to walk home. It's kind of a drag, but whatever."

"Hm,_ too lazy._ I know someone like that." Ino said.

Shikamaru sighed. "Are you coming?"

"You want me to come?" Ino asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I owe you a car ride." He smirked.

"With _Choji_ in the car?"

"Jeez, Ino. I meant _before_ we left to go get Choji."

Ino jumped up. "Drink that coffee and I'm in. You're _not_ falling asleep."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Poor Choji."

"Oh, shut up, Forehead, he's not going to be in there with us." Ino took Shikamaru's hand. "Have fun studying."

"Sorry for not saying hi earlier, Sakura, Hinata," Shikamaru said to the two of them, shaking his head with a glance at Ino.

"Don't worry about it," Sakura said with a smile. "See you tomorrow, Shikamaru."

"Yeah, see you." He let Ino pull him out the door. Sakura had no doubt they were headed for a passionate (or as passionate as Shikamaru could get) make-out session in the front seat of his car.

"They _are_ kind of made for each other, aren't they?" Hinata asked with a slight smile.

Sakura nodded. She loved the two of them together. "Like you and Naruto." She said. Because that was true too. The members of both couples balanced each other out perfectly. Or as perfectly as was possible. She envied them. Almost.

Hinata turned bright red. "You-you think so?"

"_Everyone_ does." Sakura said. "I mean, it's sort of obvious." Sort of? It was _very_ obvious. Without Hinata, Naruto would probably be failing every class (and would also be miserable).

She thought about herself in middle school, when she had been so sure Sasuke was her perfect other half. That they were _destined_ to be together. Well, that had changed. She almost laughed at it, when she wasn't sick thinking about her former herself.

Sakura wondered if 'destiny' even existed. Because even despite her friends' relationships...She didn't think it did.

* * *

**A/N:** _Yay for flashbacks and__ ShikaIno action. I'm trying to put so much into this story, but I could never forget those two :)_

_Thanks for reading!_


	7. Back in Time (13)

**13**

_"What do you _mean? _Who's Mr. Orochimaru?" _

_ "He was here yesterday. Went to the police station, then found Sasuke. Apparently he runs some weird academy, or something like that, and wants Sasuke to come study with him. Says he'll be in an advanced program, because he shows a lot of promise." Naruto said._

_ "Did you see the Mr. Orochimaru guy?" Sakura demanded. _

_ "No, Sasuke said it. He's going to go, Sakura-chan!" _

_ "No, he's not. That's ridiculous! He's not just going to leave school." Sasuke, abandoning Konoha for some stranger's school? _

_ "You know how he feels about his parents," Naruto said worriedly. _

_ "Oh, come on! That happened so long ago, he's gotten over it!" Sasuke had been furious at first, but then he had adjusted, of course, Sakura thought._

_ "No, he hasn't. I mean…those people, the ones that did it, they're still out there. And Itachi. Anyway, he wanted to go straight to the police academy, but Kakashi said he was too young."_

_ "Well, he is! He's only thirteen, like all of us! And the first time he asked was two years ago."_

_ "I don't know, apparently now this Orochimaru guy is really interested in him."_

_ "He sounds really creepy!" Sakura said. "And Sasuke's not going to go with him. He can't! Anyway, he wouldn't be that reckless."_

_ "Yeah, you're right." Naruto said confidently. _

_ "Of course I am. I _understand_ Sasuke, and he'd never do something like that."_

* * *

After about half an hour, Sakura and Hinata left. The rain had stopped, which made for a much nicer drive home through the darkened Konoha streets. Sakura got home to find the door to her mother's office still shut. She didn't bother going in to say anything; instead she just continued upstairs, to listen to music and finish studying. But tiredness took over quickly, and she fell asleep without thoughts distracting her.

* * *

Sakura sat down next to Kiba in English the next morning. Genma, their teacher, wasn't there yet (he insisted they call him by his first name, and not Mr. Shiranui).

"Hey, Sakura," Kiba said. He was lounging back in his chair, playing with a pencil.

"Hi, Kiba." She said, getting her books out. "What's up?"

"Eh, not much. Akamaru got into the dog food last night, it was a total mess."

"Oh, that stinks. Was it everywhere?"

"Yeah. And he's sick now, which is the worst part."

Sakura had always thought Kiba's devotion to his dog was sweet.

"Will he be okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. It's just stomach problems. He usually doesn't do stuff like this, that's why it was so weird. Anyway, how're you doing, Sakura?"

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Just wondering. Ino said you skipped practice a couple days last week."

"Oh great. You've been talking to Ino?"

Kiba shrugged with a grin. "I just wanted to know if you were okay. You're not one to ditch stuff."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I was at the gym. Needed to get out some pent-up energy."

Kiba smiled his cocky smile. "Glad I wasn't there to see it."

"Why not?" She challenged.

"Because you're a beast when you're boxing angry. And when you're _not_ angry."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She said, turning to face the front of the classroom as Genma walked in.

"You should." Kiba said.

"Hi guys," Genma said, informal as always. He was chewing a toothpick and was probably the opposite of typical teacher professionalism, which was probably why he was one of the most popular teachers. "You can all take this period to do homework. We're not starting anything new and I've got to write up something for my sophomore class. I don't know if I'm technically allowed to let you go early but I'm sure Mr. Sarutobi would let it slide. We had a good discussion yesterday, anyway." He sat down at his desk and pulled a stack of papers toward him.

There were scattered thanks and everyone immediately grabbed all of their stuff and left.

Sakura left with Kiba. "What're you gonna do now?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "Start working on a history essay that's due Thursday. Where are you going?"

"I'll hang out with you, if that's okay. I don't think anyone has this period free."

"Alright. If you want. It's not gonna be very interesting."

"Doesn't matter. Maybe I'll actually get some work done." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "That might be a good idea."

The two of them found a table in the library. Sakura spread out her books and started to write a quick outline for her essay on Konoha's founders. She felt his eyes on her and she looked up at him accusingly. "What?"

"Oh. Nothing." He looked back at his computer hastily.

She looked at him a second more before letting it go and turning back to her paper.

Kiba had been Sakura's first boyfriend after Sasuke left. Well, boyfriend wasn't really the right word. They'd been friends since middle school, obviously, because they had always hung out in the same group. But they were at a party at the beginning of sophomore year and she just wanted to be in the moment. He'd been her first kiss.

It only lasted about two weeks because it just felt wrong. Sakura just told him straight out she wasn't ready. She liked him as a friend only. It had nothing to do with any feelings for Sasuke, that whole ordeal was long finished by then. She just knew she didn't like Kiba like that and she didn't want to have a bad breakup or anything. Sakura had no experience with relationships then, but she knew what she was doing.

Ino joked for a few weeks that she broke his heart, but Sakura had been pretty sure Kiba wasn't too upset because he and Ino hooked up a few weeks later (only after Ino had asked Sakura's permission).

They had stayed friends, but even Sakura, who tended not to notice when boys liked her, wondered sometimes if Kiba wanted them to be more than that.

No, if he did she'd know for sure.

She caught him looking at her again. "Jeez, Kiba. What is it?"

"Sorry. I was just wondering if you were okay."

She stood up and started packing up her books. "I'm fine. I'm great. I wish people would stop asking me that, it makes me feel like an idiot. Coming from you, especially."

"Come on. I just wanted to make sure."

"I know, and thanks, but seriously. You should know me better than that."

He grinned. "Don't worry. I'm not worried about you."

"Well, that's reassuring. If you were worried about someone other than Akamaru, I'd be concerned."

"Hey. Not fair."

"I'm kidding." She smiled and picked up her stack of books. "See you at practice."

"Yep. See ya."

* * *

Sakura took a bite of her sandwich while underlining several lines of her Physiology textbook. It was dense and packed with information, but Dr. Tsunade expected them to have the next chapter practically memorized for a quiz the next day.

She was at a table with just Ino (Hinata was at a club meeting). They had ditched the guys because Sakura had refused point blank to sit with anyone else when she had work to finish. Ino was also absorbed with last-minute homework (Shikamaru had been helping her and she didn't want to disappoint him). The two girls had forgone their usual table for one on the edge of the cafeteria (no distractions).

Sakura looked up for a moment and groaned. Even if they hid in the back, people _still_ found them.

"What?" Ino asked.

"We need to move. Idate and his group are coming."

"Alright. If you want to be _that_ antisocial."

"I'm not in the mood right now. Especially if it's Idate."

Idate Morino, captain of the cross-country team, was always flirting with Sakura. He was also her ex-boyfriend. They'd dated at the beginning of junior year, but he had been _way_ too cocky. Granted, he was the best runner on the cross-country team, but after he'd won a race (actually, almost all the time) he was so self-confident eventually she just couldn't put up with it.

"Understandable. Still, he's got the hotness factor. And confidence can be cute. There's some serious potential. Maybe not as much as some _others_ I can think of, but…"

"Stop. Talking." Sakura said. "You know it's more than _confidence_ that's his problem. Besides, the only reason he even likes me is because I'm a cheerleader." She grabbed her books and darted out with Ino following her.

"And you're super hot. That's a factor." Ino said as they got into the wide hallway outside of the cafeteria.

"Yeah, right." Sakura dismissed her immediately (which always infuriated Ino, though it was one thing she didn't show). "But speaking of cheerleading…"

"Nope. I don't want to hear it. I don't care if you still don't feel like a cheerleader. We're not going through this again."

Sakura and Ino argued about this occasionally. In the beginning, Sakura had only joined the squad for the flying: she had always been one of the girls at the top of the pyramids, the ones in the air. It was really the only thing she liked, because she hated the stupid little uniforms (no matter how flattering they were) and the sing-songy cheers and the stereotypes that came with cheerleaders. She and Ino, both last year and this year, had cut down on the number of ridiculous cheers, preferring to focus on the routines and (Ino's) loud, obnoxious call and response with the spectators when they weren't performing. Ino's part might have been ridiculous, but their routines were serious. That was the only reason Sakura had stayed (and for Ino's benefit, because someone had to keep the blonde in check, after all). While she could put on the façade if she wanted, Sakura had never been the peppy, smiling, flirty cheerleader. Sophomore year she had tried, and it had helped her be more confident, but then she had found her real self again (or her new real self) which was so much better.

"Seriously," Ino said. "I don't care if you have ridiculous amounts of work from Crazy Tsunade, or if you're proving something to yourself. You owe this to the team. Us and the guys." Sakura looked at her, without thinking, at the mention of the football team. "I don't mean _Sasuke_," Ino said, rolling her eyes. "I mean Naruto and the rest of them. This is our last year."

"Just...Stop making Sasuke an exception, okay?"

"Whatever you say." Ino paused. "No, I know, Forehead. Trust me, I know."

That was all it took. They understood each other without any more explanation. Ino had heard (or sensed) it enough already.

* * *

"Alright, listen up, all of you," Ino said, gathering the squad in a circle as they finished warming up that afternoon. "Our first game against Ame is on Wednesday, and we need to get our shit together. The football team is stacked this year and we're not abandoning the routines that you're all complaining about so they can show us up. Routine B sucks right now and none of you are trying hard enough."

"Ino, just stop talking for a second." Sakura stepped forward impatiently. "Kasumi, on that final flip when you're supporting Moegi you need to be steady. That's the only weak link, but...Well, you know the saying. Moegi, I know you're nervous, but you just need to trust that the girls below will support you."

Moegi, a tiny girl and one of the only freshmen on the squad, nodded determinedly.

"And Fuki, you're slacking off. I don't care if you hate being at the bottom of the pyramid, if you keep acting like this at some point everyone's going to come down on top of you. So step up or quit."

"Right. Sorry, Sakura." Fuki, normally completely indifferent, said hesitantly.

"Good." Sakura wiped her forehead tiredly.

"Alright," Coach Shizune said, stepping forward. "Let's get back to work."

* * *

"And that, Forehead, is why we need you on the team." Ino said to Sakura as they were heading back to the locker rooms. "You know exactly what we need."

"It's just part of the actual coaching. I mean, Coach Shizune's great, but she doesn't always notice the little stuff. And _you're_ completely useless with anything other than offensive motivation." Sakura grinned.

Ino sighed dramatically. "And to think I thought_ I_ was the blunt one."

"I think Sai gets that title, actually."

"Oh, God, don't talk to me about Sai. He's gotten better over time, at least. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with being blunt. It makes you realize who your real friends are."

"Or it makes you a total asshole." Sakura pointed out.

"Jesus, you know what I mean. Bluntness needs tact. I don't just go spouting out randomly. It all has meaning."

"Whatever you say, Pig." Sakura said amusedly.

"You know what I mean, Forehead." Ino said. "Anyway, without bluntness our relationship would be nonexistent."

"Too true." They reached the gym entrance and Sakura pulled open the heavy doors.

"Oh," Sakura said, remembering something. "I forgot to ask…What are you doing for your birthday?"

Ino grinned widely. "You'll never guess."

"I know it doesn't involve a giant party, because you wouldn't let Hinata and I plan one for you."

"Nope. Shikamaru and I are going out to dinner. His birthday's the day before mine, which you obviously knew."

"Wait…You're going out to dinner?"

"Yep." Ino smiled happily. "Shikamaru didn't want to have a big party, so I went along with it."

Shikamaru really was rubbing off on Ino, Sakura thought. Ino would never have agreed to something like this in the past.

"Well _that's_ a change." Sakura said with a smile.

"Don't take that tone with me, Forehead. I'm not getting dull with age. It's going to be a super nice restaurant. Anyway, this doesn't mean I'm sacrificing my reputation as Konoha's hardest partier."

"Oh, shut up, Pig." Sakura said. "You're way too dramatic."

"_I'm_ dramatic?" Ino asked incredulously.

"You know what, I'm just going to stop talking to you." Sakura said, going past Ino's locker to her row and starting to change out of her sweaty practice clothes.

"Oh, speaking of birthdays, we need to talk about yours." Ino's voice came from behind the row of lockers a few seconds later.

"My birthday is in _March_!" Sakura said, exasperated.

"Right. Which gives us plenty of time to plan the most outrageous, crazy, alcohol-filled blowout—"

"No, no, and no." Sakura cut her off firmly.

"Come on, Forehead! It's your eighteenth! I had an awesome party last year, now it's your turn!"

"Ino! Stop talking!" Sakura shoved the rest of her clothes in her bag. "I refuse to host anything."

Ino gave a loud, even more dramatic sigh. "You don't know what you'll be missing, Forehead!"

"There will be plenty of other parties, which I'm sure will be great. But I don't want the responsibility for people lying wasted in my yard. Or the police arresting us all. I actually really want to go to college."

"Paranoid, much?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop. Talking?" Sakura stalked to the door and pulled it open.

"Don't you dare ditch me!" Ino yelled from across the room.

Sakura slammed the door extra hard and grinned, satisfied. She started walking down the blissfully quiet hall.

Two minutes later, a slightly annoyed Ino caught up to Sakura, and poked her in the back. "Very funny, Forehead."

"Hey, someone has to disobey your tyrannical orders."

"Who's the dramatic one now?" Ino said with a smug smile.

"Can we just call a truce? This is exhausting." Sakura shook her head and shouldered her bag.

"You're right. C'mon, let's find the guys and go out for dinner or something. Or do you have some crazy test tomorrow?"

"No, I'm up for it." _If Sasuke isn't there_, she thought automatically.

_No, screw it_. _Who cares if Sasuke's there?_

* * *

**A/N: **_Longest chapter so far! T__his will be the last flashback for a while, but now you can see Sasuke's backstory is coming together..._

_Next chapter: You can see how well I write football, a sport I don't follow/watch/understand/particularly like. I'll do my __best, haha. _


	8. Kickoff

"I think you'll be surprised by them, actually," Ino said, spearing a piece of lettuce on her fork.

It was game day: the opening football game of the season was that afternoon. Someone had tacked up some huge posters to the doors of the school and in the hallways that said variants of 'Go Konoha!' (some were slightly more offensive towards Ame, their opponent, than others).

Ino and Sakura were sitting at the end of a lunch table occupied by the entire cheerleading squad. Team lunches were customary the day of a game; the football team was across the cafeteria, already in their jerseys. The whole room was rowdier than usual.

"Surprised by what, exactly?" Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I was watching the guys practice yesterday. They're not bad."

"Well that's reassuring." Sakura said.

"No, I mean with Sasuke as quarterback they work really well together."

Sakura had her doubts about that. It was Sasuke, after all: he'd never known how to work well with others. But she didn't feel like arguing with Ino about it.

"Sakura! Ino!"

Naruto was suddenly beside their table, holding onto the arm of a slightly overwhelmed Hinata. On game days Naruto's excitement level was through the roof, which was saying something considering he never seemed to run out of energy on any normal day. His hair was spiked up even crazier than usual and he had three black lines painted on each cheek.

"Hi." Sakura said with a grin, at the same time Ino said, "Nice war paint. You look like a cat."

"It's team spirit, Ino!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "Why aren't you guys more excited?"

"If the two of us are calm, it means the rest of squad won't go crazy." Sakura explained, eyeing the rest of the giggling, already overly excited table of girls.

"Zen. Like so." Ino folded her hands and closed her eyes, attempting to look meditative.

"That's smart." Hinata said faintly, disentangling her arm from Naruto's grip and holding his hand instead.

"But you're supposed to be excited! It's the first game of season!" Naruto said incredulously.

Ino's eyes snapped open. "Stop doubting our methods. We're going to outclass you in every way on that field. You guys won't know what's hit you."

"Well, good!"

"You're coming to the game, right, Hinata?" Sakura asked.

The dark haired girl nodded. "Of course!"

"And you're coming to Ichiraku's afterward, aren't you, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Yes, as long as someone can drive me."

"Why don't your parents just let you get your license?" Ino asked.

"My father's worried I won't be a good driver. Or I'll be too timid and crash."

"Oh, Jesus." Sakura said. Hinata's father was the total opposite of her own parents: overbearing and super strict.

"You'd be the best driver out of all of us." Ino said. Then, "Wait, he doesn't let _you_ drive, but lets you ride in a car driven by _this_ idiot?" Ino motioned to Naruto. "That's screwed up logic."

"Hey!" Naruto said.

Hinata was blushing slightly. "He's…He's not very happy with that, either, but he puts up with it. He's never really seen Naruto drive."

"I still think it's a miracle you two were ever allowed to date." Ino said.

"We weren't allowed!" Naruto said happily. "Hinata-chan's dad just got used to it!"

That was true; Hinata's father had hated Naruto in the beginning, but in one of Hinata's defining moments, she had completely disregarded him and gone out with Naruto anyway. Eventually, somehow, Naruto had gotten his respect. Or at least his tolerance. Naruto seemed able to get into everyone's good books.

"Anyway, I just came over to say good luck. You better be coming to Ichiraku's, too, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said.

"Wouldn't miss it." Sakura said with an amused smile. "Assuming you guys win, obviously."

"Of course we're gonna win! Ame's pretty good but we're way better."

"Yo, Naruto!" Kiba yelled from across the cafeteria. "Get over here, it's a team lunch! We've got stuff to talk about!"

"Alright, I'll see you guys later." Naruto flashed his wide grin. "C'mon, Hinata-chan!"

"Naruto, I think I'm going to go to the library. I don't want to, um, interfere with your football strategy."

"Aw, okay, Hinata-chan. See you after school?"

"Right! I'll find you and wish you good luck."

"Cool!" Naruto squeezed her hand and then jogged back to the football team's table. With a quick wave to the two girls, Hinata left for the library.

"I swear that's the most unexpected couple in this school." Ino said to Sakura.

"No, not really. You and Shikamaru take the cake. Actually, no, I expected that."

"I'm flattered, Forehead." Ino put her fork down with finality. "I can't eat, I'm too hyped up."

"What happened to Zen, Pig?" Sakura asked with a grin.

"Shut up, Forehead. You know what? I give up. Let's just get pumped."

* * *

The whole squad walked up to the football field an hour before the game started, as was customary. They started warming up on the sidelines, but Sakura couldn't help noticing all the people already finding seats.

"Well this should be interesting," Ino said, eyeing the bleachers along with Sakura. "Half the school's already turned up."

"The first home game's always popular," Sakura said, absently tightening her ponytail. "Not to mention it's the first game of the season."

"Oh, stop trying to pretend you don't know why they're all really here. For _Sasuke_. To see if he lives up to Neji Hyuga standards."

"Obviously he'll be just as good, if not better," Sakura rolled her eyes. She knew she wouldn't be able to deny it. "It's the teamwork that'll be a problem."

"Yeah, he was never much of a team player, was he?" Ino said.

"Tch. That's an understatement. Alright, let's go. We need to make sure Shino has our music."

The two girls walked across the field to where Shino, another senior, was setting up his speakers and deejaying equipment.

"Hey, Shino," Sakura said.

"If you're wondering whether I have the music for your routines," Shino said without looking up from the wires he was untangling, "I do." Second only to Neji in the avoiding-all-small-talk department was Shino.

"Great. Thanks, Shino." Ino rolled her eyes at Sakura.

"I saw that." Shino said, glaring at her, even though (per usual) he was wearing dark sunglasses.

"I meant for you to see it." Ino said.

Shino sighed.

"Anyway," Sakura said forcefully. "Thanks a lot, Shino. For the music and for putting up with _Ino_."

"Oh, come on, Forehead. Hurry up, we'll be late for the pre-show routine."

"It doesn't start for twenty minutes. And we're fifty feet away."

"I don't need your sass." Ino said. "Just come on, we need to act like followers and join the rest of the squad."

"We _are_ followers. We're _cheerleaders_, for God's sake." Sakura said.

"Stop being so cynical. We're the captains! That means we're the leaders, and the rest of the squad are the followers."

"Whatever you say, Pig." Sakura said with a sigh, but she smiled.

* * *

After watching the arrival of the Ame team, the two girls joined the rest of the squad in a tight circle where Ino gave a pep talk ten minutes before the marching band was set to play their opening medley.

"Coach Shizune told me to leave out the insults," Ino said to all the girls. "But I just wanted to tell you all that we're all idiots. At least, Sakura thinks so."

Sakura glared at Ino.

"And I agree with her. So let's go kick some ass and act like stupid teenage girls do!" Ino pumped her fist.

Surprisingly, the girls took her words seriously and copied the motion, and they all punched their fists into the air.

"Alright, team! Let's go!" The girls all rushed to the sidelines eagerly to await the cue for them to go.

"I have no words." Sakura said to Ino.

"I know you don't." Ino said happily. "My pep talks are so inspirational, I know you're jealous."

"I don't know why I'm a part of this. It's ridiculous." Sakura said.

"Oh, come on, Forehead. You do it for the adrenaline. Anyway, it's good for the self esteem to know that all the guys in the bleachers are hoping your shorts are going to ride up just a little more."

"Maybe it's good for _your_ self-esteem," Sakura said with raised eyebrows, "but it's seriously creepy to me."

Just then, the marching band came out in rows to line the entrance to the field, and Shino stopped his pregame music. The squad lined up in a perfect row on the side of the field. And as the band started the loud drumroll that preceded Konoha's fight song, and the loud cheers from the spectators started, Sakura couldn't help getting caught up in the energy.

The song built and built and then, at the climax as always, the football team came sprinting out from the path between the two band ranks. The cheers were deafening; Sakura could see people jumping up and down and signs waving all over the packed bleachers, and the girls on the squad screamed along with everyone else.

Sasuke was the first out; that was always customary for the quarterback, but Sakura thought she would've been able to tell it was him even if that wasn't the case. He didn't have the same level of exuberance as the next player, number 9 (Naruto, of course) who came sprinting out on Sasuke's heels with the rest of the team, pumping his fists in the air and letting out a raucous yell to get the crowd even more riled up. If there was anyone besides Ino who could work a crowd, it was Naruto.

After the song finished, the team got into a huddle by their benches, down the field from where the girls stood. Sakura wondered if Sasuke said anything vaguely motivational (or captain-like), or if Coach Asuma was the one who did all the talking. Probably the latter. She couldn't make out anything over the sound of the crowd. The team huddled closer together for a moment and with a deep shout of "KONOHA!", the starting players sprinted out to their positions. With a hasty and slightly weaker "1…2…3…Ame!" the opposing team ran to take their own positions and get ready for the kickoff.

Sasuke was kicking the ball off (of course), and after the signal from the referee, ran in and punted it with brute strength far into Ame's side of the field. And the game began.

An Ame player caught the ball and started running before being bowled over by Choji and the referee blew his whistle sharply. Both teams lined up again, and one of the juniors hiked the ball to Sasuke, who threw it hard right into Sai's hands. He took off running down the field (Sai was by far the fastest one on the team), dodging Ame defense before getting intercepted the last minute by a waiting cornerback.

Five minutes later, Ino assumed her normal role. "MOVE YOUR MAGNIFICENT ASS, SHIKAMARU!" She screamed as the rest of squad cheered on Shikamaru, who was attempting to get the ball past a huge pair of Ame linebackers. He dodged one of them and tossed the ball to a junior, who took off running with it.

They were playing as well as they ever had with Neji as quarterback, if not better. It was obvious, and Sakura had expected it. But the moment she never anticipated came at the beginning of the second quarter, when Sasuke made an amazing interception and looked like he was about to run straight down the field to try and make a touchdown with no help from anyone else. Sakura expected the attempt, even when Kiba (who was just barely open) shouted "Sasuke!"

Sasuke ripped the ball to him and yelled, "To Naruto!"

Kiba caught it, just barely, and started running before hurling the ball towards Naruto, who caught it and tore down the remaining distance to score Konoha's first touchdown.

"YEAH!" Naruto pumped his fists to huge cheers from the crowd.

"Did you just _see_ that?" Ino yelled. "_That_ needs a cheer! Come on, Red and Gold on three!"

It wasn't just the amazing play that Sakura was surprised by. It was the fact that Sasuke, always notorious for trying to do everything by and for himself, had organized a play in which he wasn't the one to do everything.

Sakura joined in on the cheer for Naruto's sake, because his energy was contagious as he ran around the field before the ref blew his whistle loudly. Sasuke took the shot for the field goal, and scored.

* * *

By halftime, the crowd was uncontrollable. Konoha was winning 17-0, with another touchdown and field goal from Kiba, and then a field goal by Shikamaru.

"Everyone ready?" Sakura yelled to the rest of the squad over the sound of the crowd as they prepared to go out for their big routine.

They all nodded, and at the firsts sounds of their music from Shino's speakers, ran out to the middle of the field to cheers and whistling from the audience.

The pulsing music, building toward its climax, infiltrated Sakura's ears and then there was nothing but the moves she had to do. She and Ino led the group from the front, doing their basic synchronized ground moves before backing up to form their bases. And then she and Moegi were going up on everyone's hands, and Sakura felt the rush of air as she went up into a basket toss. And that's when she started grinning, because that was one of the only things about this that was worth it.

The landing went off smoother than it ever had in practice and the crowd screamed. Sakura caught a glimpse of Moegi's huge smile before they were absorbed back into the group.

They sent two more girls into the air and then got into position for their pyramid.

"1…2…3!" Ino called in time to the music, and then the second tier went up, and then the third. Sakura could feel Kasumi, next to her on the second tier, waver for a moment, but she held steady. Then on the exact right beat, they all came down, to even more enthusiastic cheers. The pyramid was always their finale, but they finished their ground moves with a flourish and then stopped, yelling "Konoha!" The marching band played them off as they ran back to their bench, waving to the yelling crowd.

Sakura took a long drink from her water bottle, still feeling the high of the moment and beaming at Ino.

"Yeah!" Ino said, high-fiving Sakura and then a bunch of the other girls with an exhilarated grin.

As Sakura watched, she realized it was Sasuke who got the team together right before the start of the third quarter. And then Sasuke again who got them into a huddle near the end of the game, when Ame got past their defense and scored for the first time.

After that final huddle, Konoha didn't make any more mistakes. To no one's surprise, ten minutes later at the sound of the buzzer they were the winning team.

* * *

"So…I'm pretty sure we have to rethink that thing about Sasuke not knowing what teamwork is." Ino said as they changed out of their uniforms, back in the locker room. They'd run back down to the school with the rest of the excited squad, ahead of the huge crowd of enthusiastic Konoha fans.

"Yeah." Sakura said half-heartedly. She couldn't deny it, no matter how much she wanted to; Sasuke was an amazing quarterback, not just for his obvious athletic skill but because he knew how to be a captain. When had _that_ happened?

Whatever. She'd resolved not to think about Sasuke. "There's no party tonight, is there?" Sakura asked Ino.

"Nope. Well, some sophomore thing, but we're not going to crash it because ew, sophomores. We have Ichiraku's, which I'm not letting you get out of."

"I wasn't going to try to get out of it!" Sakura said. "I don't want to break the tradition."

"Good, because you're not allowed to."

Sakura waited for Ino to finish fixing her hair and makeup, trying to persuade the blonde that she looked fine (unfortunately, 'fine' was not an acceptable word in Ino's vocabulary). When she was finally done, the two of them walked out to the parking lot together. Shikamaru and Choji were waiting to get a ride in Ino's car.

"If you guys stink up my car, I'll never forgive you." Ino threatened as they pulled out of the parking lot, her and Sakura in the front and the two boys in the back.

"Oh, calm down, Ino." Shikamaru said, leaning back against his headrest and closing his eyes. "We just won. Give us a break."

"Are you sleeping _already_?" Ino asked incredulously, looking at him through the rearview mirror.

"Keep your eyes on the road." Shikamaru said without opening his eyes.

"You are _so_—"

"Yeah, come on, Ino! We just had an awesome game, give Shikamaru a break." Choji said.

"Choji, I, uh, wouldn't get involved in this." Sakura said with a smile, looking at Ino's stormy expression.

"I give up on all of you." Ino said angrily, speeding up and jerking the wheel viciously to get around a turn, and causing the other three to reach frantically for something to hold on to.

* * *

Ichiraku's was packed, which was normal for a Friday night (actually, it was normal for every night). Shikamaru opened the door and they were all hit with the familiar smell of ramen and barbecue. It was loud, with people talking over the rock music playing in the background and the sports games playing above the bar. The rest of their group, along with a bunch of the juniors on the team, were at some tables pushed together in one corner, their usual spot. They were also drawing a lot of attention from the rest of the customers (many of whom had probably been at the game). The four of them started to make their way back, while Naruto waved frantically (as if it was hard to find them, with half of the boys still in their jerseys).

Sakura sat down between Shikamaru and Sai, as far away from Sasuke as she could get. He was at the far side of the table; she wouldn't even have to look at him. Assuming Naruto didn't say anything stupid. But he knew how she felt, after that conversation in the hallway.

For the time being Naruto was absorbed in his ramen order (of course). "What do you think, Hinata-chan, pork or miso?"

Hinata shook her head with a smile. "I'm going to get miso."

"Well in that case, I'll get pork!"

No matter how much Naruto had matured from his hyperactive middle school self, he was always the same around ramen.

Sakura looked around at the table of (mostly) friends: Shikamaru had his arm draped lazily over Ino's shoulders, his eyes half closed while she debated over what she should eat; Sai was doodling on his napkin; and Kiba, Shino, and Choji were involved in a conversation about who knows what. Sasuke seemed slightly involved, because he said something before turning to the window, looking vaguely tired. _Or just bored_, Sakura thought with twisted amusement. _That wouldn't surprise me._

Still, despite the wrench that Sasuke had thrown into their group, Sakura realized that their general dynamic was the same. She felt a hint of that sense of home and comfort that she always felt when she was around all of them. Plus they were back in the familiar atmosphere of Ichiraku's. She was being ridiculous, letting Sasuke mess with her head and her friend group. Just because he was here didn't mean anything had to be different.

Ayame, the hostess, came by to take their orders. "It's good to see all of you back here again! How was the game?" She looked around at all of them with a smile.

"Awesome!" Naruto said. "We whooped them!"

"Just what I'd expect from Konoha's best athletes." Ayame said with a grin.

"Haha, thanks, Ayame!" Naruto said.

"Now, what can I get you all?" Ayame asked. "We're a little backed up in the kitchen but I'm sure I can your orders through. You're Chef Teuchi's favorite customer after all, Naruto."

"Of course he is. He's here every chance he gets." Kiba said, rolling his eyes.

It took forever for everyone to order their food, but Ayame wrote down the huge list and then went back to the kitchen with a wave. General conversation turned to the game.

"Hey, Sakura, I forgot to mention this in the car: that was an awesome flip you did during your half-time routine." Shikamaru said.

"Oh, thanks. Really Moegi that tiny freshman's the gymnast, not me so much." She grinned.

"Nah, it was cool! You guys are always awesome." Kiba said.

"Excuse me," Ino said, "I believe both of you are forgetting to compliment the person who choreographed most of that routine..."

"I didn't think you deserved it, after almost killing us all in the car." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes. "Jesus."

"So what'd you think of the game, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked eagerly, changing the subject before Ino could retaliate.

She felt Sasuke's eyes turn to her at Naruto's question, but she ignored him. "It was great. You guys are really coordinated."

"All thanks to teme here." Naruto threw his arm around Sasuke. "We've got a kickass team this year."

"Hn. Get off, dobe." Sasuke said.

They had reverted back to their old nicknames so fast, Sakura realized. As if nothing had happened.

"Yeah, you're technically the reason we won." Kiba said, looking slightly resentful.

"Everyone else should get credit too." Sasuke said, though he looked indifferent as always.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Was he saying that just to seem like a real captain? Or was Sasuke Uchiha actually being...modest?

It had to be the first option. 'Modest' was _not_ a word in Sasuke's vocabulary, even if he'd never outright bragged about anything. Then again...'Teamwork' hadn't been part of his vocabulary either, before. And look how that had changed.

* * *

**A/N:** _Sorry for the longer wait, there was so much I wanted to fit into this chapter. Hopefully I didn't completely butcher the football scenes..._

_Also, the more I write of this...The more I want to write it from Sasuke's perspective as well. There are a lot of scenes that this story misses out on just because Sak__ura isn't part of them (Sasuke/Naruto interactions, etc) that I really want to write. This is Sakura's story and I want to leave it that way, but maybe expect a companion from Sasuke's POV, later on—probably when I'm closer to finishing this._


End file.
